


The Thorns That Linger

by HeckJustBirds



Category: orignal work
Genre: F/M, Fae & Fairies, Magic, Magic-Users, Original Character(s), Original Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-30
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-11 08:25:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13520385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeckJustBirds/pseuds/HeckJustBirds
Summary: Miskkha has escaped her chains for the last time but what will she find once she is free of them?She is found by a Mekh hunter Aleksander and taken under his wing but with the fair-folk watching over their shoulders will Aleksander be able to hide Miskkha from them? And will he keep his promise?





	1. Again I Am Found,

“Come kitty, kitty why are you running?” A voice taunts, echoing throughout the trees. “Come out, come out you know you can’t hide from me.” A bolt launches, sailing overhead, followed by the crackle of vicious laughter, a warning shot but not the first. Childish laughter parrots in return, ringing throughout the redwood. The kitty has danced this dance before, she knew the steps by heart, the twist, the spin and the swish of a hundred grand ladies dresses. Likewise, she knew that she could not truly escape her pursuer in the end. However, there was something different, alarmingly different. Barking, snapping and snarling. She knew the sound all too well, Hounds... Hounds bred and raised to the hunt, relentless, savage and monstrous. She shivered, bred to shred a man to tiny bite sized pieces. As the kitten came closer and closer to the end of the clearing, her demise. She knew for sure that the man wasn’t here to play games like he always had, no. He was going to kill her, and so she became a lion.

 

At the end of the clearing lay a narrow river, the water ran crimson with the blood of those long forgotten. Ya Nenavizhu - hatred. The river's given name by the Vostok people, for beyond the river lay, The Realm Of Anna. Filled with towering, slithering monsters, spoken of only beneath the cloak of darkness. The girl was confronted with a choice, to exchange one monster with another. She gathered her courageous lions heart and leapt, dashing into the river and she ran, as fast as her legs could take her. The hounds came to a screeching grinding halt. The once savage beasts withered and whimpered, they stayed far away from the river's edge, knowing of it’s true nature. The man sauntered into the clearing with his crossbow rising for the kill. Instead, he halted breathless, taking one glance at his cowardice hounds before grasping the fact that the princess had fled across the river.

 

Concealed amongst the dense shrubbery, she slithered and snaked through the undergrowth. Winding and twisting, crawling under collapsed trees. She listened attentively, her ears straining with the effort, however she could not make out anything besides the frantic pounding of her heart. The forest is eerily mute. The expected forest melody had vanished. The absence of bird song was distressing but even the swaying, singing leaves didn’t so much as whisper. The forest felt dead with no hint of life, but it was the absence of monsters that made her truly anxious, where were they? Great towering beastly things with twisted limbs that reached the sky and their missing eyes leaving holes deeper than any well. She had overheard people after midnight whispering under the safety of candlelight, filled with horror and great fear. Curious, she slinked carefully into the clearing exposing herself, maybe the monsters were planning an ambush? But as she walked watching each tree with hawks eyes she discovered no threat. The hunter and hounds she had left far, far behind her. She couldn’t feel the slightest bit of safety but regardless she took her time. As if the clearing supposedly full of monsters, were actually a park and she a pretty lady in a pretty dress. If the monsters were going to take their time, she might as well do the same. It wasn’t long before the girl’s growling tummy seemed a more fatal threat than any monster. Monster or no she was starving, and even the thought of going back didn’t sound half as dreadful as it had this morning. Dragging her pitiful self forward she spied the river that bordered Anna’s Realm, it too stained a profound crimson. Crossing hadn’t been as troublesome as it was supposed to have been entering, so why would it be any different leaving? The girl simply waded right through the river, her slippers well and truly soaked through and her pristine ivory dress stained a violent red as it pooled around her like a puddle of blood. Her ears suddenly returned to her, she could once again hear the sweet bird song, a distant harmonious melody. The gentle rustle of leaves. It was almost as if someone had stolen her ears and now returned them.  
\-----  
She had heard of the Mekh Tribes that guarded Anna’s Realm, but they were only stories to her. She had never even dreamed that she would ever see one of its members, but there he was kneeling, drinking from a clear pond. She smirked idly to herself, the people of the Mekh tribes had been illustrated as a savage people with no grasp of bathing, but this one looked very clean. His hair was combed and neatly plaited even. As she remembered these savage stories she remembered the fine ladies who had told her, this man looked cleaner than all of those ladies combined. However beyond that, all that she could think about were snacks, did the man have snacks? Did he have food? A very mischievous grin appeared as she very coyly tilted her head to the side, the man's pack was laid against a tree. Oh how very lonely it looked all by itself, indeed. The urge to laugh was tough to stifle, but she moved as silent as a mouse. She’d had plenty of training. She snuck along the bushes edge with the most tremendous grin, but as she crept along the ground like nothing but a shadow, she had the very abrupt feeling of being watched. The man was watching her out of the corner of his eye just barely but she was certain. Her grin only expanded tenfold as she watched him right back. Now only a mere metre away from the man’s pack she knew he would expose her as soon as she reached out for it, indecisive whether she should just run or grab the pack and run, she elected to play a game instead, how long until he would tell on her? As the seconds ticked by she counted, each one came with a friendly reminder from her stomach. Finally, it had taken the man 16 seconds as he turned towards her but he spoke in a language which the girl had never heard before, it was a sweet but rough melody like a gentle wind alongside crashing waves. He did not sound angry though, more curious. She pointed towards the man's pack, trying to indicate that she wanted it but the man seemed rather unimpressed with this, for whatever reason. He spoke again in another language this one a true treat to listen to, he spoke like an evening bird coming home to nest. “Do you speak Zvezda then?” The girl grinned “I might” She replied. The man rolled his eyes, so far back in his head she worried he’d be blind after it. She watched him put the lid back on his bottle, apparently not blind. He clearly did not see her as a viable threat. “What do you want with my pack? Dare I even ask.” The man even with his bird song voice sounded just like a grumpy old man. He stood his ground passively but never quite took his eyes off her, the girl noticed this curiously. “Do you have food?” She questioned, maybe he had not quite disregarded her completely as a threat then? “I might.” He replied coyly. The girl giggled terribly, did he want to play too? But the man’s face changed very suddenly, to almost terror as he very suddenly realised something quite important. “What is that red colour!?” That grumpy old man had vanished and she got such a fright by the sudden change in the man’s emotion she went utterly and completely blank, frozen in place. The man quickly collected himself taking a step forwards as to see her better. Suddenly he smelt it and with it a true realisation. In his face she saw terror, undeniable fear but also something else.“You crossed the river didn’t you?” He asked softly as if he was afraid someone might overhear. The girl did not speak as she was sure he already knew the answer. His towering figure seemed to shrink before her, “What did you see?” This he asked even quieter it almost sounded like a plea, what was he afraid of? The girl simply watched as took another step closer as if to close the distance and with it the strangeness, she knew this trick. He glanced behind himself and then her searching. “What is it that you don’t see?” She asked instead of answering. His attention snapped fully to her, his eyes watching her with a mix of emotion she could not pinpoint. He watched her for a moment longer before he spoke “There... is a monster…. A beast that lurks at this border, we must leave before it smells you.” The girl pulled a most foul face, how dear he suggests she smelt? However... inspecting the ends of her dress she realised and cringed. The man nodded, gently retreating and beginning to pack up his equipment in a hurry. She watched him, and memorised each piece of his equipment. Only really now beginning to smell the blood faintly she promptly kicked off her shoes and threw them as far as she could into the undergrowth. The thought of doing absolutely anything more with bloody shoes sounded dreadfully disgusting. “Where are you going?” She questioned watching him side on, she spied a glance at his bags contents and she did indeed spy snacks. The man glanced over his shoulder briefly. The girl, he noticed did not seem worried in the slightest about the monster that lurked, her mind seemed to be entirely elsewhere. “My village, the monster will not follow us there, but we must move quickly” He pulled his pack to his back, the girl looked longingly at it. “Us? Am I to come along?” Thinking about it, if she did come, she could ‘share’ his food… “Would you rather be eaten?” He questioned seriously, seriously enough that she did not joke about being but a side dish. She looked over her shoulder to far, far way through the forest in the direction she had come, she could almost see the castle with its towering walls and vicious gargoyles with eyes that followed. She turned away quickly, she did not want to be eaten.


	2. One Candy In The Bowl And Two For Me

A long crooked nose, pointed towards her occasionally checking if she was still behind him. Slightly turned to the left, as if someone had played a mean game of I've got your nose. The game terrified her completely, to steal a child's nose or anyone for that matter, did not seem like such a kind idea. His face was a slightly pale, actually very pale. Maybe he was a vampire? She’d heard of such beasts, beasts that counted endlessly and drank blood. Two very odd things to have in common however even odder was that to defeat them one would only need an ample handful of rice and the vampire unable to resist would count each and every grain, before long the sun would come up and the vampire would promptly catch on fire under the sun's deathly rays. The sun above her reeled her back in to the man in front of her, he was not sizzling like meat in a pan nor did he seem bothered by the sun in the slightest, therefore he could not be a vampire but possibly, something or someone much worse? She looked even closer, inspecting him from head to toe determined to figure him out. The Mekh people were still aliens to her and the curiosity was eating her whole. He had enough hair to weave a basket. It reached below his hips, gently swaying along in time to the pace he had set. She’d never seen hair so long in her life, maybe it was because it was the length of a witch's hair. Another beast she had heard of, crackling and mischievous they were. The maids in the kitchens would talk endlessly about the long haired fiends stealing children. Was he going to steal her? Maybe the hair wasn’t real, surely hair would not naturally grow to this length? She reached out in front of her and pulled the man's hair, however apparently she’d pulled too hard as he reacted with the most peculiar sound. “Aghhg! What..?” He whipped that crooked nose towards her she only now noticed a large scar that ran from the very corner of his eye to half way across his nose, still holding his hair he growled “What are you doing?” questioning her viciously. With his eyebrows lifted and mouth slightly open, he was surprised and confused. The girl tilted her head also, surprised and confused mimicking his response, unsure of what to say, she repeated his words. “What are you doing?” The man became visually distracted by her face and couldn’t suppress his smile, her eyebrows almost touching her hair line and her mouth wide open. “What is your name? You haven't told me” He instead questioned, rather than her expression demeaning the action playful rather than with the intent to harm. “Was I supposed to tell you?” she replied relaxing her face and letting go of his hair, it was indeed real and softer than silk. “I suppose not, but will you tell me?” He watched her glance around the forest, looking everywhere but him. “If I tell you mine, will you tell me yours?” She bounced beside him, idle only barely looking at him. “Aleksander” He spoke with the realisation that he had not once seen her make eye contact with him. “Ohh? Your name is pretty just a like a…” She paused and thought for a moment. “A puppy” She confirmed with a bright smile. “My name is Miskkha” She crouched down to take a closer look at a ladybug. Aleksander too paused thinking for a moment how to go about being thought of as a puppy. “Ah- Thank you Miskkha, where do you hail from?” He came to stand beside her watching with a newfound interest. For a savage, Aleksander had very good manners and even kind words too. Realising the bug was not a ladybug she answered “Northensen, I do not wish to return so do not return me” For the first time, she lifted her head and looked him straight in the eye. He did not have the eyes of a beast but… something else. Aleksander startled by the sudden death glare he was receiving and the fact that for the first time Miskkha had really looked at him he tried to open his mouth to speak but was interrupted. Miskkha’s tummy busy starving to death, growled furiously clearly angry with its owner. “When was the last time you ate?” Miskkha, still kneeling from her earlier bug watching collapsed dramatically seizing her opportunity. “I’m dying…. You must feed me… candy.” Aleksander burst into laughter at this, “Sure, come now get up we are not far from my village.” he smiled.

 

As the pair neared his village Aleksander began to think about how the ends of Miskkha’s dress might alarm anyone who passes by and certainly rise questions he could not answer. He offered to her his longest coat to hide it, which she hadn’t seemed too happy about. She seemed upset about being too hot, but Aleksander did not feel warm and he wore more layers than her. Miskkha became more and more irritated by the jacket as they neared his village, so irritated he began to think that maybe it wasn’t the heat of the sun that bothered her but rather the material of the coat. As they approached closer Aleksander could clearly see the great arch that lead the way into his village, it had been made from native redwood more than 300 years old. Miskkha, whom he had promised more candy than he had just to wear the coat a little longer, he was sure would be climbing it would he let her. She seemed fascinated by the little blue flowers growing at the base of the arch, she just would not leave them alone. “What are they called, Aleksander? They are so lovely, they look like the sky.” She touched them so tenderly, he thought they might as well be new born ducklings. “Forget me nots, would you like one?” Aleksander reached out and simply plucked one, holding it out for Miskkha. Miskkha, gasped, utterly mortified replied. “Aleksander! You cannot just pick flowers! They are busy growing.” Aleksander, in all his years of flower picking had never received this reaction before and was quite understandably confused. “Should I put it back?” He asked unsure how to respond. Miskkha sighed softly. “No… you cannot put flowers back, you must apologise and take it home for water.” Aleksander still unsure, knew that he had hurt Miskkha in someway and did as she had asked no matter her strange request. “I’m sorry” He said softly to the thing watching Miskkha out of the corner of his eye for her response. “Don’t look so sad Aleksander, it will live a few days still.” Aleksander stood, holding the flower as carefully as he could. “Come, my home is this way.”

 

The first thing Aleksander did when he got home was put the flower straight into a clay mug which he filled with water, fearing Miskkha’s wrath if he did not instantly do this. He took off his boots at the door and was about to ask Miskkha to do the same but noticed she was not wearing any. “Where are your shoes?” He asked sure she had been wearing a pair of slippers before. Miskkha turned to him intrigued as she sensed a note of worry. “They were wet and stained, I threw them into the bush.” She said very matter of fact much to Aleksander’s demise. “Miskkha.. The beast will-” Aleksander was interrupted by the yelling of a small child and a very happy lady. “Aleksander! Aleksander!” The little girl cried calling his name, but the lady called to him in a very different language. Aleksander’s head turned, his moment of despair seeming to have disappeared into thin air, he reached down and lifted the child high into his arms and the lady he greeted very warmly in what she thought to be the same language. Then suddenly everything stopped and all eyes were on her, Miskkha started right back suddenly unsure of her purpose in the world. The lady spoke but Miskkha could not understand her, however she seemed curious not angry. Aleksander spoke for her quickly realising the language barrier. The lady nodded and beckoned Miskkha inside. Miskkha turned back to Aleksander, who was this lady and- but before she could ask he nodded to her, it was safe. Miskkha listened and followed the lady into her home guessing weather she was his mother and the girl his sister, behind her she could hear the insistent chattering of the child whooping and calling. She almost smiled, following the lady to what looked like a kitchen. In the middle of the large room there was a fire pit which fascinated Miskkha greatly, she’d never been allowed near fire. For obvious reasons that seemed like they were oblivious to everyone but her. The lady came back, smiled and handed her a bowl. The contents of the bowl looked rather dubious but the lady wouldn't poison her she was sure. After all Aleksander had nodded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading chapter 2! Did you find it interesting? are you noticing something about Miskkha? tell me what you think about her and do you think Aleksander is a vampire? or a witch? tell me in the comments c:

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this! I spend a lot of time writing and i'd love for you to comment and tell me your thoughts/theories.  
> If you liked it could you please leave a kudos? knowing that people enjoy my writing gives me the motivation to write more!  
> I'm totally open to constructive criticism as i know just how much it can benefit a work so don't be shy!  
> Thank you so much for reading!!


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